2018 World Series of Poker

Three-time bracelet winners Barry Greenstein and Eli Elezra are making a strong push for increasing their already-impressive showcases. Greenstein and Elezra are among the frontrunners in Event #25: $1,500 Seven Card Stud Stud-Hi Lo 8 or Better, sitting near the top of the leaderboard with just 23 players left in contention.

The two seasoned veterans bagged the second and fourth biggest stacks respectively, trailing only Benjamin Dobson, who soared to the pole position thanks to a huge cooler in a hand versus another legend: Mike Matusow. Matusow was among the leaders on dinner break but Dobson seized the most of his stack in a boat-over-boat clash that left "The Mouth" crushed.

That setup helped Dobson improve to 595,000 and a clear lead at the end of the day. There may be a huge gap between Dobson and the rest of the field but the doyens of Greenstein (349,000) and Elezra (334,000) have been in these situations countless times. Greenstein demonstrated his lifelong experience very well during Day 2. He was on a nub for the better part of the day only to boost his stack towards the top during the latter stage.

While the tournament lost Matusow in 30th place, it's still a memorable lineup vying for the $173,528 first-place prize. The top half of the standings features bracelet winners Jesse Martin (335,000) and Georgios Sotiropoulos (231,000), along with movie star and longtime WSOP participant James Woods (210,000) who's already made a final table this year, finishing fifth in the $1,500 Dealer's Choice event.

Some of those who couldn't sneak through included Frankie O'Dell, Tim Frazin, Scott Bohlman and Brian Hastings who all made it to the last five tables but fell short of appearing on the final three.

A former champion of this very event, 2014 winner Calvin Anderson, was the last to leave the tournament without any reward. Anderson bricked his wheel draw on the stone bubble, losing his remaining chips to Andrei Kaigorodtcev. The remaining 90 players locked up chunks of cash, starting from $2,246.

However, the majority of the $804,600 prize money will be awarded on Wednesday, June 13, so make sure to come back at 2 p.m. local time to follow the PokerNews live coverage of the final outcome.

Joel Tushnet: / /
Peter Janicki: / /
Bentley Roberts: / - folded on fourth street

Joel Tushnet had kings in the hole and called Peter Janicki's bet on fourth street. Janicki bet on fifth again and Tushnet made it 2,500 more to cover Janicki's remaining chips.

Janicki had a pair and a low draw but he could only hit an inferior two pair, losing to Tushnet's kings up.

Tim Frazin: / /
Scott Gullett: / /
James Nelson: / /

Tim Frazin was all in with aces out, sweating his board in a hand against Scott Gullett and James Nelson. Gullett ended up all in as well and they turned their cards up. Nelson made a straight but Frazin had trips to beat his high hand. However, Gullett spiked the last ace and Frazin hoped to catch an eight, seven or a deuce. The river bricked him and Nelson scooped the full pot, providing a double elimination.

Barry Greenstein: /
Paul Sexton: /
Tim Finne: /

Barry Greenstein four-bet pre and Paul Sexton and Tim Finne stuck around. Greenstein then fired on every street except of fifth which was checked through. Sexton and Finne called two more bets but they both laid their hands down on the river, leaving Greenstein scooping the huge pot without showing anything.

Mike Matusow was ante all in and eventually ended up only against Eli Elezra. Elezra made trip tens and Matusow had three spade cards with three more to peel. He immediately turned up another spade, sweating another through the last two cards. But both of them would be red and Matusow bowed out in 30th place.

After losing multiple pots to Eli Elezra when he joined the table, Mike Matusow has been on a downward spiral. Matusow got involved in a large pot with Benjamin Dobson where Matusow made a big laydown on sixth street and then got involved in another massive pot with Bentley Roberts.

Bentley Roberts: /
Mike Matusow: /
Frankie O'Dell: / /

Bentley Roberts completed and was called by Mike Matusow, Frankie O'Dell and Joel Tushnet from the bring-in. Roberts led out on fourth and was called by all three opponents. Roberts fired again on fifth and Tushnet was the only one to fold.

The action checked around on sixth and Roberts led out again on seventh. Matusow called and O'Dell mucked his hand. Roberts tabled aces full of kings while Matusow could only muster sevens full of sixes. Matusow was left with just 5,000 chips.